Homemade Laundry Detergent

I’ve been making homemade laundry detergent, about 4 1/2 years now. When he had our son, Landon, I wanted to make sure his clothes would be free from any chemicals. I was buying a special detergent for babies, but that small bottle was expensive! I looked online for something cheaper and homemade. I came across a recipe on pinterest and did a lot of research on homemade laundry detergent. The best part is, you can tweak the recipe to suit your own laundry needs.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

This recipe makes a large batch of laundry detergent. This is a powder detergent and is safe for any type of washer. I’ve used it in my old top load washer (with the large agitator in the middle) and in my front load washer. It works with hot, warm and cold water settings. I mainly use the cold water setting and it works fine. I love my homemade laundry detergent! When I make a new batch, I look for things to wash. One batch will last me about 6 -7 months. I do laundry 4 – 5 times a week. I use 2 Tablespoons of the detergent per load. More or less, depending on the size of laundry load.

The ingredients needed are: Felsnaptha soap, baking soda, borax, washing soda, and laundry scent crystals (optional). You will need a bucket to store the homemade laundry detergent in. I keep mine in an old laundry detergent bucket with lid. Another good storage bucket is the cat litter buckets, with lids.
Here’s what I do: I grate the laundry soap in my food processor with grater plate ( It’s just soap, the food processor gets washed with… soap anyway.)
It looks like cheese, but smells clean.

I will empty the grated soap into a large bowl. Grab three large handfuls of grated soap and place back in food processor with chopping blade. Add 1/2 cup baking soda to the grated soap in food processor. Process until the mixture gets nice and powdery. Continue until all of the grated soap is in powder form. Pour into the bucket.

Grab your bucket and empty the remaining ingredients. Just open the boxes and dump them right into the bucket. Add your soap mixture in and mix it all together with your hands. If your using the laundry scent crystals add them to the laundry mixture. I only used half a bottle of the laundry scent crystals.
That’s it! Extremely easy to make!

STEP ONE:Grab a large bucket with lid and set aside. Remove the Felsnaptha soap from wrapper and slice in half, down the long side (do this to all four bars). Grate the soap in food processor with grater plate. You can also grate the soap by hand with a normal kitchen grater. Grate all 4 bars of soap.STEP TWO: Remove the grated soap from food processor and place in a large bowl. Switch the food processor back to the chopping blade. Grab three large handfuls of grated soap and place back in the food processor. Add 1/2 cup of baking soda to the food processor with grated soap (this step helps the soap turn into powdery pieces). Process until it gets powdery and crumbled. Empty into the bucket. Continue this step until all the grated soap is gone and in powder form.STEP THREE: Grab the remaining ingredients and pour into the bucket. Mix everything together. If using the laundry scent crystals, add them in. I used only half a bottle. All done. Go start a load of laundry. I use about 2 Tablespoon for an average load. Use less for smaller loads and more for extra large loads.NOTES: I have found the felsnaptha soap in the laundry aisle and near the bar soap section. Check both areas in your local store. The washing soda, Borax and laundry sent crystals can be found in the laundry aisle. The big box of baking soda can be found in the baking aisle or the laundry aisle. You’ll need a medium – large bucket to mix and store the laundry detergent. An old laundry bucket or empty cat litter bucket works fine. Empty protein powder containers would work. For the scoop – I use an old scoop from a protein powder container. A baby formula scoop would work well too.
By: Vanessa